Let's timelining!
Gawd okay, so the Terminator franchise spans four theatrical films, one television series, one ride/show, several books, comics, and a video game SO MANY VIDEO GAMES (according to Wikipedia). FOR MY OWN PEACE OF MIND, I am focusing solely on the theatrical films for canon. Unfortunately "canon" keeps changing because the future is not set, blah blah blah, what Kyle Reese reported in the first film is not what happens in the fourth film. I'm gonna make a list of dates and events according to each movie to try and sort it out. Or go crazy. Whichever.
The Terminator (1984)
Present day: 1984
Judgment Day will be: August 29, 1997
Kyle Reese & T-800 sent back from: 2029
Future!John is: 44/45 (using his T2 birthdate)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Present day: 1995
Judgment Day will be: August 29, 1997
John Connor is: 10
T-800 sent back from: "35 years from now," making it 2030
John & Kyle Reese meet: "...when I'm like forty-five, I guess."
Events leading up to Judgment Day:
T-800: "In a few months [Miles Dyson] creates a revolutionary type of microprocessor. In three years, Cyberdyne will become the largest supplier of military computer systems. All stealth bombers are upgraded with Cyberdyne computers, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they fly with a perfect operational record. The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes online on August 4, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 am Eastern time August 29th. In the panic, they try to pull the plug."
Sarah: "Skynet fights back."
T-800: "Yes. It launches its missiles against the targets in Russia."
John: "Why attack Russia? Aren't they our friends now?"
T-800: "Because Skynet knows the Russian counterattack will eliminate its enemies over here."
However, the Badass Trio end up blowing up Cyberdyne, thus eliminating the futuristic technology that will shape Skynet and averting Judgment Day... or do they???
Alternate ending: The war never happens because Judgment Day is averted. John becomes a senator and has a daughter; Sarah Connor lives to be a grandmother and does not die of leukemia.
Terminator 2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996)
Present day: idk, whenever the visitor sees it
Future day: ... is it ever explicitly stated?!
Basically, teenage John (he looks possibly 15 or thereabouts) is taken into the future war with another T-800. They kill a gigantic version of the T-1000, called a T-1000000, and explode future!Skynet. Then John returns to the "present" (whenever that) is, and the ride ends.
. . . There is absolutely no way I can work this into what happens in T3. MOVING ON.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
TWO MINUTES IN AND THEY HAVE ALREADY FUCKED UP THE TIMELINE: "When I was thirteen, [the machines] tried [to kill me] again." When here canonically states he is ten in T2. WAY TO GO. ... Yeah they are using the age Edward Furlong was when he filmed T2 as John's character's age.
Present day: July 2004
John is: +23 years old, if they believe he was 13 in T2 ("We took out Cyberdyne over ten years ago!")
Judgment Day: 6:18pm the day the movie takes place
Terminators sent from: 2032 or 2033 (not specified, I think)
John will die: July 4, 2032
Sarah dies: After she lives long enough to make sure the world didn't end; I'm guessing 1997-1998.
Terminator: Salvation (2009)
Present day: 2018
John is: 33 (T2 birthdate) OR 36 (from age in T3)
Marcus dies: 2003, a year before the events in T3
Kyle Reese is: ... teenager (17-19?)
What it boils down to
• T1 and T2 were connected because the date of Judgment Day was the same for both of them.
• T3 and T4 are connected because their Judgment Day is the same, although it is not the same as T1/T2.
• T3 completely destroys the whole "The future's not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves" theme in T1 and T2.
• THEREFORE: Are T3 and T4 alternate universes to the one Kyle Reese described in T1? Is this like the Star Trek reboot, where the time displacement wormhole created alternate versions of the original characters?
• However, T4 shows how John acquires the facial scar he has at the beginning of T2.
• If T4 had had its original ending [John dies, and his skin is grafted onto Marcus and Marcus is implanted with John's memory, thus pulling a Heroes S3 ending], would that have changed the future the T-850 came from in T3? Would it have really been John who died, and if not, wouldn't the Terminator know the difference between machine and human?
• Trying to make sense of timetravel movies is impossible.
The Terminator (1984)
Present day: 1984
Judgment Day will be: August 29, 1997
Kyle Reese & T-800 sent back from: 2029
Future!John is: 44/45 (using his T2 birthdate)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Present day: 1995
Judgment Day will be: August 29, 1997
John Connor is: 10
T-800 sent back from: "35 years from now," making it 2030
John & Kyle Reese meet: "...when I'm like forty-five, I guess."
Events leading up to Judgment Day:
T-800: "In a few months [Miles Dyson] creates a revolutionary type of microprocessor. In three years, Cyberdyne will become the largest supplier of military computer systems. All stealth bombers are upgraded with Cyberdyne computers, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they fly with a perfect operational record. The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes online on August 4, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 am Eastern time August 29th. In the panic, they try to pull the plug."
Sarah: "Skynet fights back."
T-800: "Yes. It launches its missiles against the targets in Russia."
John: "Why attack Russia? Aren't they our friends now?"
T-800: "Because Skynet knows the Russian counterattack will eliminate its enemies over here."
However, the Badass Trio end up blowing up Cyberdyne, thus eliminating the futuristic technology that will shape Skynet and averting Judgment Day... or do they???
Alternate ending: The war never happens because Judgment Day is averted. John becomes a senator and has a daughter; Sarah Connor lives to be a grandmother and does not die of leukemia.
Terminator 2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996)
Present day: idk, whenever the visitor sees it
Future day: ... is it ever explicitly stated?!
Basically, teenage John (he looks possibly 15 or thereabouts) is taken into the future war with another T-800. They kill a gigantic version of the T-1000, called a T-1000000, and explode future!Skynet. Then John returns to the "present" (whenever that) is, and the ride ends.
. . . There is absolutely no way I can work this into what happens in T3. MOVING ON.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
TWO MINUTES IN AND THEY HAVE ALREADY FUCKED UP THE TIMELINE: "When I was thirteen, [the machines] tried [to kill me] again." When here canonically states he is ten in T2. WAY TO GO. ... Yeah they are using the age Edward Furlong was when he filmed T2 as John's character's age.
Present day: July 2004
John is: +23 years old, if they believe he was 13 in T2 ("We took out Cyberdyne over ten years ago!")
Judgment Day: 6:18pm the day the movie takes place
Terminators sent from: 2032 or 2033 (not specified, I think)
John will die: July 4, 2032
Sarah dies: After she lives long enough to make sure the world didn't end; I'm guessing 1997-1998.
Terminator: Salvation (2009)
Present day: 2018
John is: 33 (T2 birthdate) OR 36 (from age in T3)
Marcus dies: 2003, a year before the events in T3
Kyle Reese is: ... teenager (17-19?)
What it boils down to
• T1 and T2 were connected because the date of Judgment Day was the same for both of them.
• T3 and T4 are connected because their Judgment Day is the same, although it is not the same as T1/T2.
• T3 completely destroys the whole "The future's not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves" theme in T1 and T2.
• THEREFORE: Are T3 and T4 alternate universes to the one Kyle Reese described in T1? Is this like the Star Trek reboot, where the time displacement wormhole created alternate versions of the original characters?
• However, T4 shows how John acquires the facial scar he has at the beginning of T2.
• If T4 had had its original ending [John dies, and his skin is grafted onto Marcus and Marcus is implanted with John's memory, thus pulling a Heroes S3 ending], would that have changed the future the T-850 came from in T3? Would it have really been John who died, and if not, wouldn't the Terminator know the difference between machine and human?
• Trying to make sense of timetravel movies is impossible.